Verdict: This excellent study for a general lay audience is recommended for all popular science collections.

Background: Friedman, a journalist and documentary film producer, gathers the stories of lightning strike survivors, many of whom are religious and see a divine purpose in their survival. Survivors often have mysterious, long-lasting symptoms that confuse doctors, but the author adds that an organization of lightning strike survivors now exists and that medical science is advancing research on their injuries and treatment. Friedman also summarizes lightning mythology and folklore and recounts the history of lightning science, beginning with Ben Franklin’s experiments. But only a few scientists today study lightning, and they still find some aspects of the phenomenon puzzling. Friedman devotes much of his book to detailing a 2003 helicopter rescue of a mountaineering party struck by lightning atop a Wyoming mountain, a strike that killed one climber and severely injured several others.
- Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado at Denver & Health Sciences Ctr.
Xpress Reviews- First Look at New Books - libraryjournal.com

“Who would believe a book on lightning could be not only informative but fascinating reading? Friedman's Out of the Blue is both. He intersperses dozens of human-interest stories along with excellent research. Best of all, he writes as if he's sitting across the campfire and says, ‘Let me tell you about...’ ”
-- Cecil Murphey, author or co-author of more than 100 books including the New York Times' best-seller, 90 Minutes in Heaven.

“Author John Friedman pans through time from ancient myths to scientists who are now delving through the mysteries which have surrounded this awesome and frightening subject. His greatest gift is painting a humanistic picture of a subject which has affected man since he began walking this earth.”
-- Frank Field, the dean of TV Weathermen

“Lightning is the most terrorizing natural danger that mountaineers face. The telling in this book of one such strike in the Teton Range, the toll it took on the victims, and the ensuing rescue effort is a tale sobering and heroic.”
-- Greg Child, writer for Outside magazine, one of the world's leading mountain climbers, and author of several books, including Over the Edge, Postcards from the Ledge, Mixed Emotions, and Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalaya.